online instruction – Comedy Writing Secrets

Online Learning

Why Humor Is the Red Bull of Online Teaching

A professor is one who talks in someone else’s sleep. —W. H. Auden A teacher’s job is to educate, not entertain. And it’s certainly not…

Mark ShatzApril 10, 2026

Online Learning

Teaching in the TikTok Era

I have an AARP card, which means I’m officially banned from Snapchat, TikTok, and most other social media platforms. The one exception is Facebook, which…

Mark ShatzApril 4, 2026

Online Learning

Using Humor to Reduce Test Anxiety

Tests make students nervous. Even well-prepared students experience test anxiety, and anxiety is the enemy of learning. A tense brain struggles to retrieve information, while…

Mark ShatzApril 1, 2026

Online Learning

Let Students Help You Find the Funny

Designing, building, and teaching an online course is ungodly time-consuming. Asking instructors to also hunt for humorous material can feel like adding another task to…

Mark ShatzMarch 29, 2026

Online Learning

When Humor Hurts Learning

I wrote a bestselling book on humor writing, Comedy Writing Secrets. I know how to target humor, write one-liners, and even perform stand-up comedy. Which…

Mark ShatzMarch 29, 2026

Online Learning

The Safest Target in Classroom Humor

A classic comedy adage says: “If there’s no corpse, there’s usually no joke.” In other words, humor almost always attacks something—people, places, ideas, or institutions.…

Mark ShatzMarch 12, 2026